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The Chinese
invention of moveable type, credited to Bi Sheng in the year
1045 AD, did not significantly impact Chinese society. Three
hundred years later in Europe, Gutenberg's development of
moveable type revolutionized the Western world. Why? The
Chinese language uses 3000 to 5000 characters in an average
newspaper. The English language, in comparison, uses 26
characters in an average newspaper. Clearly, manipulating
5000 characters on a printing press took much longer than
moving 26. Still, the invention of moveable type furthered
Chinese technology and its role in the advancement of human
civilization.
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